Working On My Redneck ™ » jeff burton

Kyle Needs To Take Heed

Leon — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:12:36 +0000

(photo courtesy Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

Jeff Burton has a reputation of cool, calm driver who takes his lumps and rarely complains, that was until Sunday evening after the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That is what made the scene so odd after the race. Jeff Burton confronted ol Kylie Busch at Busch’s car and began to shake his finger in Busch’s face and explain, in no uncertain terms, his displeasure of Busch!

As Burton finished his one sided discourse with the Las Vegas native, Busch made a comment that lit Burton’s candle once again! Burton spun around once again and repeated his displeasure of Busch and used his extremely long index finger to put an exclaimation point to the sentence!.

It is not known what ‘pearls of wisdom’ Burton ended the conversation with, nevertheless, it was obvious to Kyle to keep his lips zipped this time! From an outside observation, it appeared that Burton had seen enough of “The Kyle Busch Movie” and was totally fed up with it!

In light of the Kyle Busch-Denny Hamlin teammate feud presently going on, it appears that Busch is cultivating other enemies as well this season!

What do you think about ol Kylie and his driving antics? Does Kyle need to attend a”Dale Carnegie course”?

Kyle Busch’s driving style has been compared somewhat to “the Intimador”, Dale Earnhardt,Sr. But I can say to Kyle something like Sen. Benston said to Dan Quayle in the debates a few years ago……

Kyle I’ve seen Dale Earnhardt, Sr. drive, and you are no Dale Earnhardt,Sr.!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Hamlin Pulls Off A Double At Darlington

Leon — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:01:21 +0000

(photo courtesy Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

Denny Hamlin pulled off the Darlington double, winning both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races this weekend! That feat has only been accomplished 3 times in Darlington’s illustrious 61 year history!

Denny Hamlin restarted the Showtime Southern 500 Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway Saturday night in the lead driving his JGR #11 Fed Ex Toyota with 20 laps to go, and had no problem holding off the field to get the victory.

However, the two drivers who appeared to have the best shots at beating Hamlin in the Cup race – Jeff Gordon in the HMS #24 DuPont Chevy and Jeff Burton in the RCR #31 CAT Chevy – blew their chances at victory by making mistakes on the final pit stop of the evening. Gordon missed the commitment cone while trying to pit and Burton was penalized for running over a hose in the pits.

Jamie McMurray, driving the EGR #1 Bass Pro Sports Chevy, who started from the pole, finished second. On Friday, McMurray finished third in the Nationwide race. So, big weekend for McMurray – though not a surprising one to him and his teams.

Kurt Busch, driving the Penske Racing #2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished third. A very welcome third. “I haven’t had a solid run like tonight since Ricky Craven and I battled it out for that win,” Busch, whose brother Kyle finished second to Hamlin on Friday, said. “It feels good to get our Miller Lite Dodge back up front. It came down to a strategy where I though two tires would be the way to go at the end. We had the right strategy, we just didn’t have enough speed.

Gordon came back to finish fourth, after missing the pit entrance. Then as he re-entered the pits on the second attempt, a yellow flag cam out. With that yellow flag being waved, Gordon drove right through the pits again to rejoin the pack, then next time by Gordon took the wave around.

“That is what happens when you make a make a mistake,” Gordon said of missing pit road. “You have to make it up to your guys who worked so hard all weekend long to give you a race car like that.

Rounding out the top five was JPM, better know as Juan Pabl0 Montoya, driving the EGR #42 Target Chevy.

So the “track too tough to tame” has again given the race fans a great weekend of racing. The Southern 500 has put another exclamation point on a NASCAR season already full of exciting finishes. Even more interesting is that Deny Hamlin has shown that no “stinkin’ ACL surgery” will put a hamper on his competitiveness, durability, focus, and drive!

What is your take on Hamlin’s toughness?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Childress Decides Less Is Better

Leon — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:40:07 +0000

(photo courtesy RCR PR)

At the end of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Richard Childress polled all members of his organization trying to solve a simple math problem.

Why did three plus one equal zero?

That was the perplexing equation last season. In 2007 and 2008 Richard Childress Racing qualified all three of his race teams for the Chase for The Cup. In 2009 RCR added a fourth race team and failed to put just one of the four into the Chase!

“We couldn’t put our finger on it,” Childres said. “I asked every one of our crew chiefs and engineers, and even our drivers, ‘can you tell me anything where the fourth team took away from us?’ Nobody could say. We just couldn’t save it.”

Because of the lack of sponsorship, Jack Daniels discontinued their relationship with RCR after the 2009 season, Childress has scaled back to three race teams for 2010. RCR also has addressed the problems by investing in new technology, better engineering, and several personel shifts within the organization.

Scott Miller was elevated from crew chief on the #31 CAT Chevy to the team’s director of competition, filing a position that was split between two managers in 2009. Now all the crew chiefs of RCR answer to Miller.

Childress says the team made “huge dollar investments on equipment” and also spent to shore up its engineering department. He estimates that more than $3 million was spent building and fine tuning a new fleet after the team started 2009 heading in the wrong direction.

This year, 2010, is a critical year for RCR’s driver lineup. Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton are signed through 2011, however, Kevin Harvick is in the last year of his contract with RCR, hasn’t won a race in three years, and openly was feuding with Childress.

The dissension lessened after the team began making tremendous changes in late summer and Harvick notched a few top ten finishes. Those top tens included a third place finish at Homestead in the finale.

RCR has tried to fill the void of the data gathered by the fourth team last year by forming new technical alliances with TRG Motorsports and Furniture Row Racing, as well as improving its engine partnership with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

Sharing information should help teams adapt to NASCAR’s rule changes that are coming this season. Sharing information is the keystone to a successful race team. There is so much data that needs to be deciphered in such a short amount of time. These days that is what is separating the good teams from the championship teams!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!